C - - - - (January 11-17, 2011)

Back in Los Angeles, we decided to check on our motorcycles, plug our battery chargers (thank you Christine and Vincent for shipping them from Montreal) and a few hours later, back to the airport on the way to Dallas, then next to Santiago, Chile !

After a delay due to maintenance on the plane, we ended up spending one night in Dallas. Long trip and nine and a half hours from Dallas to Santiago. 2 hours to pay the ''reciprocado fee'' ($ 132.00 per person for Canadian citizens as Canada charges Chilean citizens when they enter Canada), go through immigration and get our rental car... We arrived at our hostal at 11:30pm and found our host, Christian, with some other guests having a drink outside. We joined them right away and also got a drink, time to relax ! the temperature is 22 degres at night.

Our first day is Saturday and of course, we need to withdraw money, but surprise, surprise, this is not the United States ! All the banks are closed and with our credit card, we don't seem to be even able to enter inside the ATM room. After 5 or 6 unsuccessful attempts, we finally got lucky with.... Scotia Bank ! Scotia Bank seems to have many branches in Santiago. We also bought a couple of adaptors for our laptop and camera. Unforgivable, I had forgotten that Chile uses 220V-50Hz... how many years did I work in relocation ???

We found the ambiance of Santiago very alive, a little bit like Spain at night ! People live outside at night, eat, drink and party, go to bed late or early in the morning. They get up late in the morning ! We had forgotten that this is summer here, the darkness comes only at around 9:30pm and we find ourselves perfectly awake at 1 o'clock in the morning and adjusting actually quite well to this new rhythm ! After all, we are supposed to be taking our time, let's get up late !

Because of the proximity of our hostal to downtown Santiago and to an ideal location close to the artistic neighborhood, Bellavista, we spent our first day discovering our new decor ! We went up the funicular to discover Santiago from the hill at 284 meters first. What we really enjoyed is the Mercado Central, we have been back a couple of times there since then. We are astonished by the quantities of little shops, boutiques, and stands that sell juicy, colorful fruits as well as all kinds of vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, eggs...

We cannot leave Santiago without visiting Pablo Neruda's (1927-1973) second house called la Chascona.

For those who know Jean Ferrat et Aragon, Pablo Neruda is not an unknown poet (on pense a toi, Serge !) La Chascona is situated in Bellavista, but at the time, in 1953, this neighborhood was like a paradise, not urban, close to nature. The name ''La Chascona'' is dedicated to Matilde Urrutia who had unruly hair. He loved women and La Chascona was built so that he could visit his mistress, Matilde. His relation with Matilde was kept secret until 1958 and she became eventually his last and third wife. Pablo Neruda has always been inspired and fascinated by the sea, although he disliked sailing. He wanted to feel he was navigating in his homes and therefore had included many items providing from ships in all his houses. The dining room is modelled on a ship's cabin and the living room on a lighthouse. Neruda loved life in general and it is no wonder that our visit in his house started with a bar. He loved having friends around him like Picasso, Diego Rivera, Aragon... Pablo Neruda started to write poems at 12 years old, wrote ''veinte Poemas de amor y une cancion desperada'' at the age of 19 years old. He travelled a lot during his life, in France, where he was ambassador and in the Eastern block. He was in exile for 3 years between 1955 and 1958. He received the Nobel price of literature in 1971. His house was partially ransacked after Pinochet's coup d etat. Chocked by the death of Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda died from a heart attack 12 days after the coup d'etat. Neruda's funeral was the first spontaneous public manifestation against Pinochet.

We have started tasting Chilean food, fish with sea food and ''porotos granados'', beans with mashed corn, pumpkin, basil and red pepper. So far, the food is not fancy, but tasty !

Tomorrow, we are On the Road Again...